"So shall I," agreed Ermie, with unction. "Miss Pratt says airily: 'Do an extra half-hour of prep', but I find the longer I work the stupider I am. VA isn't going to get much credit out of _me_ in the exams. I always forget things when I see the questions and remember them afterwards when it's too late and they're no use." "Don't say 'no use'," preached Carrie. "Yes, I _do_ say 'no use', Carrie Turner, so don't be sanctimonious. Geometry and Latin may be all right in an exam-room, but what good are they going to be to me when I'm middle-aged and married?" "Perhaps you'll never be either!" "Oh come! Don't consign me to an early grave or perpetual spinsterhood. _I_ think exams are a relic of the barbarous ages, and they ought to be banished, with thumb-screws, and the rack, and all other instruments of torture. I'd like to write to the newspapers about it." The grousing of certain unwilling victims in VA made no difference at all to the examinations, which approached as relentlessly as the car of Juggernaut, and as unfailingly as the seasons. A few favoured brains in the form enjoyed them, but the majority, including Lesbia, heaved sighs of relieved emancipation when the inky ordeal was at last over. Immensely to her own amazement, Lesbia had scraped through in everything. It was the first time in her school career that she had passed without a single failure. In all honesty she gave the credit to Kitty's and Joan's blazing coaching, but she nevertheless was surprised at her achievement. "I never thought I could have done it," she acknowledged. "It only shows what you _can_ do if you try," crowed the complacent Pattersons, immensely gratified that their wobbling protégée was proving a success in the race for laurels. For Lesbia had come out sixth in the form--actually sixth, a position which astounded Miss Pratt as much as anybody. She had not made a big score over any one exam, but the aggregate of her marks had mounted up, so that, though she was long behind such brilliant records as those of Regina, Carrie, or Kathleen, she was above Marjorie and Aldora, who had failed in certain subjects. "I'm very pleased with your results," said Miss Tatham, meeting Lesbia in the passage; "it shows me you've really been working. You must go on now and keep up the standard." At which Lesbia, quite overwhelmed with such sudden praise from the head mistress, gurgled something indistinguishable and fled from the interview the instant she felt herself duly dismissed.